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New York Giants Remain First Option for Tight End Martellus Bennett

February 15th, 2013 at 12:15 PM By Dan Benton

Martellus Bennett is sure to receive some superb offers once free agency officially begins in mid-March, but the tight end revealed on Thursday that he remains focused on returning to the New York Giants if they're willing to have him back. He called Big Blue his first option, with wherever his Brother, Michael Bennett, ends up being his second.

"Everyone keeps asking me about free agency. My outlook is NYG and if not wherever my brother is most likely," Bennett tweeted.

In 16 games last season, Bennett hauled in 55 passes for 626 yards and five touchdowns. He did that while playing through an excruciatingly painful injury, and both the stats and toughness will be something sorely missed if the Giants are unable to re-sign him. However, they remain hopeful about bringing him back.

9 Responses to “New York Giants Remain First Option for Tight End Martellus Bennett”

I agree 100% with this piece and think Bennett is the type of young stud you lock up at the expense of some older overpaid vets.. JR needs to lock him up before other teams start throwing stupid money at him. IMHO He Beatty and Cruz are must signs (or tenders). Every other UFA would all be nice to have but are replaceable.. Even KP due to his knee issues and our depth is somewhat expendable. Sign the 3 I mentioned, tender the ERFa’s and RFa’s cut who you need to cut, redo who you can redo and fill the rest through draft and vet minimum guys in free agency.

what do you want bro.. Its like the groundhog day portion of the offseason. Until we get a little closer to free agency and the start of the new league year it is going to be slow. You new around here or something?

Hope he comes back. Can’t see it as very likely, BUT here’s my hope in that regard.

Giants restructure with Eli and Rolle and get back about $7MM of cap space as a result. They franchise Beatty and then work out a deal with him for five years that is reasonably cap friendly for 2013 and escalates in 2014 when they will be ridding themselves of a few big salaries, creating a lot more cap room. Once they’ve got Beatty tied up, get rid of Diehl in order to keep Boothe, but only on a 2-3 year deal for him. Tender Cruz, which probably takes up $2.3MM of the savings from restructuring Eli and Rolle but also probably leaves enough money to sign Bennett or Phillips, whomever they have decided is the greater priority.

I think going this route MIGHT work, especially if there are a few additional contract restructurings that are out there to be made. The Nicks deal would presumably be cap-friendly in 2013. Just maybe they decide Snee will play in 2014 and they restructure with him to get some 2013 cap space. They might even be able to restructure with Kiwi and Weatherford since both should be with the Giants past their contract expirations.

It’s still pulling an inside straight to figure out how to keep Beatty, Boothe, Bennett, and Phillips. It will be tough keeping three of them. As I’ve said, I see no way they can do anything with Cruz except tender him and look to next year to decide on him, but that has him in the lineup in 2013 even if he isn’t happy (as I’ve said many times, insurance is the answer for Victor in 2013….get a great insurance agent and get a great policy….or the Tisches can figure out some CNA policy for him and sell it to him at a discount as long as he shows up for the first day of camp).

I’ll bet there isn’t a Giants fan who doesn’t want Bennett back. He’ll become one of the favorite players in the Giants’ history if he stays thanks to that incandescent personality. But it’s a business, and he WILL be able to get more dollars elsewhere. We need to hope that Tampa Bay doesn’t desperately want a costly tight end.

Not a bunch to talk about other than what the team will look like when the 2013 season starts. I think it will be stunning. I also feel we should be accepting of a step back. I think that will be a possibility that has to be at least thought about. In all seriousness, that possibility exists every year.

Personally I do not advocate keeping vets who do not produce. I also understand that everyone has bad seasons.

What I feel is right for the Giants to be about youth and young veterans. The older players must be carefully evaluated before they get paid. The cap is running the show right now. But quality young talent must be factored in. As should be the continued good health of the franchise QB. The Giants must see if the young players they have drafted are starters of depth and act accordingly.

The rub is there is only so much that can be done given the draft choices, and the cap concerns. Getting as much as you can with what you have is key. But reaching to grab guys to fill specific gaps will prove fatal. Next years draft is going to be really important.

With that, a REPOST:

Former NFL defensive line coach/defensive coordinator George Dyer (1982-2003), who trained the Eagles’ Fletcher Cox last year, has been coaching Sheldon Richardson to get him ready for the Scouting Combine. Dyer thinks Richardson’s game reminds him of Warren Sapp’s and Giants DT Shaun Rogers’.

“There is a tremendous athlete with a tremendous suddenness, which is what I always look for in a big man inside,” said Dyer, noting Richardson moves like a 260-pound end and can drop into coverage. “He’s got good speed, is a bright guy, and strong. He will use power, quickness. He’s got all the tools you need to be very, very, very good.”

Besides Richardson’s pass rushing, Dyer said he knows how to lighten the mood in a locker room while also being a very hard worker, something that’s “hard to pull off.”

Richardson stated he could bulk up to 310 pounds without losing his quickness, and wants to know a defensive system in and out.

“I don’t want to know just my defensive line position,” Richardson said. “I want to know where my linebackers will be and see how the defense flows. I play the game like water, in the flow of the game.” __________________________________________________________________

As fate would have it, the Giants won’t get a sniff of this kid. We will not spend a current or future draft pick to move in the draft. And I am not too worried about that. If any of the top three corners are available at 19, then so be it.

The only OL I see the Giants looking at would be Barrett Jones. He’s versatile, tough and smart. Also he could be around in the second round. That Liz Frank injury could scare off a lot of teams. Reese took Tuck and Webster despite pre draft injury concerns.

Glad you added that we won’t get a sniff of Richardson. That kid will be really good. Hey, in retrospect, if we weren’t making the playoffs it would have been nice to lose 3-4 more games in 2012.

I do think we will be able to get a very, very, good corner or defensive tackle, or offensive lineman at #19, but it sure would have been great to be picking in the top 10 this year, because a potentially great player is going to drop down to the teams picking in the 7-10 spots.

As for Barrett Jones, definitely a stud, but lis franc injuries can be very tricky, especially for big men. I’d want a full medical evaluation from a real expert before selecting him, but that’s probably irrelevant because someone will take him before #19 anyway if he is assumed to be healthy.